Rural mail boxes

Claim 1

A rural mail box including a bottom wall, a rear wall, side walls, a top wall and a hinged front door, said bottom wall having a transverse slot therethrough near the rear end thereof, a plate slidably mounted in a vertical plane through said slot, guide means in said box constraining said plate to movement in said plane, longitudinally spaced ring bolts suspended from said top wall and having the rings thereof aligned, a rod slidably mounted in said rings, said plate having a hole therethrough near the upper edge thereof, resilient means normally urging said rod rearward against said plate and into said hole when said plate is in its uppermost position within said box, stop means on said plate limiting said plate to a lowermost position wherein it is exposed below the box, said rod having a first block of magnetizeable material secured to the front end thereof, means adjustably securing said first block to said front end of said rod, said door having a second block of magnetizeable material on the inside thereof so positioned thereon as to be aligned with said first block when said door is closed, at least one of said blocks consisting of a permanent magnet, said rOd having a length such that said first and second blocks are substantially in mutual contact when said door is closed whence opening of the door causes said second block to pull said first block and hence said rod forward to disengage said rod from said hole to permit said plate to fall to said lowermost position thereof.